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A NOBLE TRIO 

Professor Thomas Jefferson Lamar 

President P. Mason Bartlett 

Professor Alexander Bartlett 



SKETCHES BY 

REV. CALVIN ALEXANDER DUNCAN. D.D 

A STUDENT OF THEIRS 



PUBUSHED BY 

The Ci,ass of 1871 of Maryville Coi,i,ege 

MARYVII.LE, Tennessee 

1921 







OwSL «ji|9 -^1 



A NobIve: Trio 



FOREWORD 



Hugh Walker Sawyer was the first post-bellum gradu- 
ate of Maryville College. He received his diploma alone, 
for he had no classmate, in 1869. In 1871 a class of five 
young men graduated from the institution. Fifty years 
later, in 192 1, in the providence of God, three of this 
class were still living, and two of them occupied the place 
of honor on the stage on Commencement day, June ninth. 

The Directors of the College on that day adopted 
the following paper suggested by the Semi-Centennial 
Anniversary of the Class of 1871 : 

Rev. Cai^vin Alexander Duncan, D.D., 
James Andrew Goddard, Esq., and 
Rev. Charles Erskine Tedford, D.D. : 

The Directors of Maryville College, on Commencement Day, 
June 9, 1921, in annual session assembled, felicitate themselves 
and congratulate you upon your fifty years of honorable and 
useful service rendered since that far-distant Commencement Day, 
June 15, 1871, when you graduated from the old College. Other 
alumni may share with your class your record of high ideals and 
loyal adherence to principle, and of worthy labors and eager devo- 
tion to duty; but none can share with you your unique position 
as members of the first class to graduate after the Civil war, and, 
even more remarkable yet, the position your names have on the 
roster of the immortal thirteen original students who gathered 



4 A NoBw: Trio 

around Professor Lamar on Wednesday, September 5, 1866, for 
the reopening of the College after the cataclysm of the war. 

To have been present at the first chapel service of a new 
age; to have shared in the privations and labors and hopes and 
anxieties of the first five years of our post-bellum College; to 
have been trained and inspired by the noble little band of teachers 
of that day, and to have had the privilege of cheering their hearts 
with your faithful loyalty to the College that was to be; to have 
staged and played your parts in your own persons in the first 
of all the commencements in the reestablished college; and then 
to have gone out, with the blessing of alma mater upon you, to 
render a full half-century of faithful, efficient, and God-honored 
service to your fellow men; and now to be able, in the persons of 
two of you and in the loyal greetings of all three of you, to be 
present at the College after five momentous decades have passed, 
here to join with nearly fifty young men and women of the Class 
of 1921 in this happy Commencement Day — surely this is to be 
a class highly favored of Heaven, and honored and venerated of 
all Maryville people, and never to be anything but illustrious in 
the annals of the institution, let that institution endure however 
many cycles it may endure! 

That three of the five members of your class should live to 
celebrate the fiftieth commencement after your graduation is a 
matter of wonder and gratitude. Rev. Alexander Newton Car-r 
son, D.D., and Rev. Gideon Stebbins White Crawford, Professor 
of Mathematics in Maryville College for sixteen years, have long 
rested from their labors ; Professor Crawford sleeping in the 
college woods, almost within sound of our chapel singing, ever 
since 1891; but their works still follow them. 

In the name of all Maryville men and women, the Directors 
greet you, and congratulate you, and pray Heaven's richest bless- 
ings upon you. 

Fraternally yours. 

The Directors of Maryville College. 

The surviving members of the class of 1871 initiated, 
by contributions they made, a fund to be known as the 



A Noble: Trio 5 

Semi-Centennial Class Fund, which, it is hoped, will be 
added to by survivors of other classes when their semi- 
centennial anniversaries arrive. 

One member of the class. Rev. Calvin Alexander 
Duncan, D.D., had only recently removed to Magdalena, 
New Mexico, and so was unable to be present with his 
classmates at their semi-centennial commencement exer- 
cises. Besides sending his greetings and his financial 
contribution. Dr. Duncan intimated his purpose to pre- 
pare memorial sketches of the great trio of instructors 
who composed the faculty of Maryville College when 
the Class of 1871 were students in the institution, these 
sketches to be made as an additional contribution to the 
College, in the name of the Semi-tCentennial Class. 

Dr. Duncan has now fulfilled his purpose through the 
preparation of these memorials; and, by the generosity 
of a warm friend of the College, he has been enabled 
to have the memorials printed in appropriate form. The 
fact that Dr. Duncan was one of the original thirteen 
students with whom Professor Lamar began the post- 
bellum work of the College in 1866, and the fact that 
thus he had intimate acquaintance with the men whom 
he honors in his sketches, fitted him peculiarly for the 
preparation of these tributes. The fact that he has kept 
in close contact with the College ever since his graduation 
in 1871, serving almost all that period as a director of 
the institution, has kept his "Maryville spirit'' fresh and 



6 A NoBL^ Trio 

true throughout the years. What he has written so sym- 
pathetically and so accurately is of real and great historic 
value to the College ; and all the friends of Maryville will 
be thankful for this substantial service he has rendered, 
in the name of the Class of 1871, to his alma mater. 

SamukI/ Tyndai^e Wilson. 



A NOBLE TRIO 



8 A Noble: Trio 



I. THOMAS JEFFERSON LAMAR 



The work of preparing this article is a tribute of 
love. From my early boyhood days, Professor Lamar 
was much like a father to me, for he lived in the home 
of my parents for ten years, and he was my tutor in the 
home before he reopened Maryville College, as well as 
then my teacher in the College. I wish to express my 
indebtedness to the excellent ''Memorial Sketch'' of Pro- 
fessor Lamar prepared by Dr. S. T. Wilson, President 
of Maryville College, and published by Mrs. Lamar. I 
have used information found in this memorial as to events 
in the life of Professor Lamar that took place before I 
knew him. 

His Parents. Thomas Jefferson Lamar was the son 
of William and Rebecca Hodges Lamar, and was born 
in Jefferson county, Tennessee, not far from Strawberry 
Plains, on November 21, 1826. He was the second child 
in a family of ten sons and five daughters. In 1844, 
William Lamar moved to Platte county, Missouri, and 
took all his children then born to him with him except 
Thomas, who, ambitious for an education, was left in 
Tennessee that he might study under Dr. Isaac Anderson 
in Maryville College. After his parents moved away, 
Thomas made his home with Daniel Meek, an elder in 
the Strawberry Plains Presbyterian Church. Mr. Meek 




Professor Thomas Jefferson La:.[ar 



A N0BI.E Trio 9 

greatly admired the bright, quiet, kind boy, Thomas 
Lamar, and became a real foster father to him. 

Preparatory Education. As a boy, Thomas received 
his primary education in an old field school near his home, 
and his secondary education in Holston Academy at New 
Market, Tennessee. During his vacations he worked on 
the farm. It was during his school days at New Market 
that he was brought under the moulding influence of 
Dr. William Minnis, pastor of the Presbyterian church 
of that place, and he there became a Christian. When 
sixteen years of age he united with his home church at 
Strawberry Plains, of which the Rev. Gideon Stebbins 
White was pastor. A noble Christian grandmother and 
his three friends, Mr. Meek, Dr. Minnis, and Mr. White, 
had much to do in shaping his religious career. 

College Training. In the autumn of 1844, the year 
when he was eighteen years of age, and when his parents 
moved to Missouri, he entered Maryville College. Before 
going to Maryville, he had already decided to devote his 
life to the Christian ministry. At the time of his going to 
Maryville, Dr. Isaac xA^nderson, Dr. John Sawyers Craig, 
and Rev. Fielding Pope, all able men, were teachers in 
the College ; but he was influenced most by Dr. Ander- 
son, whom he greatly loved and revered. He partially 
supported himself while in college by tutoring. After 
four years of hard study, he graduated with honor in 
September, 1848, one of a class of six young men. 

Theological Training. After graduation Mr. Lamar 
studied theology under Dr. Anderson for nearly two 



lo A Noble Trio 

years. In the spring of 1850 he entered Union Theo- 
logical Seminary, in New York, where some of the lead- 
ing scholars of America were then the teachers, such as 
Dr. Edward Robinson, Dr. Thomas Harvey Skinner and 
Dr. Henry Boynton Smith. He remained in Union a 
little more than two years and graduated in the class of 
1852. He was the 'best scholar graduated from Maryville 
previous to the Civil War, and he graduated with honor 
among the very first in his class in Union Seminary. 

Early Ministry in Missouri. In May, 1852, he was 
licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Brook- 
lyn. He then went West and located for three years with 
his relatives in Missouri, and preached in and around 
Weston. He was ordained on May i, 1854, by the Pres- 
bytery of Lexington in Missouri. Taking charge of the 
academy at Savannah, the county seat of Andrew county, 
he united the work of teacher and preacher, a work which 
he was to continue throughout life. 

Called to His Alma Mater. In response to a call 
from the Synod of Tennessee to accept the professorship 
of Sacred Literature in Maryville College, in the summer 
of 1857, the year in which Dr. Anderson died, he moved 
to Maryville with his family, and he began his work in 
the College in the autumn of that year. 

"The Seven Churches in Asia." In connection with 
his work in the College, he had the pastoral charge of the 
Forest Hill, Clover Hill, and Unitia churches in Blount 
county during nearly all the rest of his life. After the 
death of Rev. Gideon Stebbins White and Dr. William 
Minnis, he had the supervision of four other churches — 



A NoBLK Trio ii 

Spring Place and Washington in Knox county and Straw- 
berry Plains and New Market in Jefferson county. A 
visiting minister compared these churches to the seven 
churches of Asia. In 1865, he was made stated clerk of 
the Synod of Tennessee, a position that he held till his 
death in 1887. Like the apostle Paul, besides all else he 
had to do, he had the "care of all the churches." 

First Marriage. In Missouri, on October 23, 1855, 
he w^as most happily married to Mrs. Martha Elizabeth 
McDonald, widow of Dr. Simon McDonald, ''an elegant 
and accomplished lady." Two daughters were bom to 
this union — Katie, always an invalid, who died when 
nearly thirteen years old, and Martha Elizabeth, who 
lived only a few months. Mrs. Lamar went into a rapid 
decline, and she died one day after the death of little 
Martha Elizabeth, on June 12, i860. 

Second Marriage. Nearly fourteen years after the 
death of his first wife, Professor Lamar was united in 
marriage to Miss Martha Ann Tedford, of Maryville, the 
daughter of Rev. Ralph Erskine Tedford, a most conse- 
crated Christian minister, who had received his education 
under Dr. Anderson. Mr. Tedford was a man of most 
amiable disposition, whom everybody loved who knew 
him. From far and near he was in demand to perform 
marriage ceremonies. During all the years of my know- 
ing him, owing to poor health he was not in charge of 
any church, but he was everywhere known as a noble man 
of God, whose exhortations at the communion table were 
remarkable for their moving eloquence and could never 
be forgotten by those who heard them, and whose words 



12 A Noble Trio 

by the bedside of the sick and the dying and on funeral 
occasions made him a veritable "son of consolation." 
Mrs. Lamar's mother was Malinda Gillespie Houston, one 
of the twelve daughters of Major James Houston, six 
of whom married Presbyterian ministers. Mrs. Lamar's 
mother was first cousin of the Hero of San Jacinto, 
General Sam Houston. Mrs. Lamar was a ''helpmeet" 
indeed for her husband, sharing his every burden, and 
making for him a home of ideal happiness, ministering 
to him with the most tender and loving consideration to 
the very last. 

Ralph Max Lamar. To this union was born one 
child, Ralph Max. I remember little Ralph as a remark- 
ably bright, active, and promising child. He grew up 
strong and well, and was normal in every way; but he 
sickened with meningitis and was taken away when but 
a little more than two years of age. His death was a 
crushing blow to both parents, and it was only because 
they could rely on the Savior's precious words, *'My grace 
is sufficient for thee," that they were able to bear it. 
Under the burden of this heavy bereavement Professor 
Lamar continued his work for the hundred thousand 
dollar endowment of the College till it was completed. 
Some time after Professor Lamar's death, Mrs. Lamar 
erected the ''Ralph Max Lamar Memorial Hospital," 
and it has proven a veritable house of mercy for many 
suffering students. 

The Lamar Endowment. The most far-reaching 
work done by Professor Lamar was in Maryville Col- 
lege, especially after the Civil war. As we have seen, he 



A N0B1.E: Trio 13 

resuscitated the College, and he raised the first hundred 
thousand dollars of the endowment. Dr. Wilson has 
most ably treated of this great achievement in his memo- 
rial. But r want to speak of Professor Lamar as I knew 
him in the home and the class room. 

At Rankin Duncan's. I think it was in the autumn 
of 1 86 1 that Professor Lamar came to live at the home 
of Alexander Rankin Duncan, my father, near Maryville, 
and he lived with us till the autumn of 1871. During 
the Civil war, for quite a while, New Providence church, 
Maryville, was without pastor and regular preaching, and 
I sometimes went with Professor Lamar to Forest Hill, 
riding behind him on his little bay mare, ''Nellie,'' which 
was taken from him by guerrillas near the close of the 
war. Many ministers visited him while he lived in the 
home of my parents. 

Protracted Meetings. It was Professor Lamar's cus- 
tom in the autumn to hold several days of protracted 
services in his churches, bringing to his help on those 
occasions some of the ablest ministers he could find. 
These services were usually held under a shed in a 
grove near the church. The people attended in large 
numbers, coming on foot, on horses, and in wagons and 
buggies. These were memorable occasions, when many 
were brought to Christ. Saturdays and Sundays were the 
great days, when a sermon was preached in the morning, 
and a second sermon after dinner. 

Fellow- Laborers in the Gospel. In 1862, Professor 
Lamar was assisted at Forest Hill by Dr. William Minnis, 



14 A Noble Trio 

of New Market; and though I was but a child at that 
time, I have remembered one of Dr. Minnis' illustrations. 
Then he was frequently assisted by Dr. William Harris 
Lyle, at that time pastor of the Mount Horeb church, in 
Jefferson county. The Rev. Samuel Sawyer, of Indiana, 
at the close of the Civil war, was commissioned by the 
Board of Home Missions to labor for a while in Ten- 
nessee, and he, too, ably assisted in these meetings. In 
November, 1865, Rev. Dr. G. W. Heacock, of Buffalo, 
New York, did valuable service with Professor Lamar in 
meetings at Forest Hill. He was a man of very warm 
and tender heart, and a preacher of extraordinary power. 
He roomed with Professor Lamar, and after service at 
night walked with us to our home. It was on that occa- 
sion that I and fourteen others gave our hearts to Christ 
and united with the Forest Hill church. 

As a Preacher. The sermons of Professor Lamar 
were among the very best. Rev. William Beard Brown, 
of whom I wrote some time ago, who knew Professor 
Lamar well and esteemed him highly, said of him : 'T 
never heard him preach a poor sermon.'' Mrs. Lamar 
kindly gave me a number of her husband's manuscript 
sermons; among them was a sermon on ''Lot's Choice,'' 
which I heard him preach at Forest Hill in June, 1863, 
and which made an impression on me that abides to this 
day. 

As a Teacher. As a teacher he was most thorough. 
During the first year of the reopening of the College, he 
had all the teaching to do; and, though Greek was his 
specialty, he seemed equally good in Latin and Mathe- 



A NoBi^E Trio 15 

matics. He took a personal and fatherly interest in his 
pupils. He always made the impression that he was seek- 
ing the highest good of each one, hut if he got the idea 
that a pupil was lacking in respectful attention, he would 
lay his open book across his knee, and in the coolest pos- 
sible way, without seeming to be angry, pour out upon 
the offending pupil such a torrent of stinging reproof as 
would make him ashamed of himself and call forth imme- 
diate apology. His pupils called him ''Uncle Tommie/' 

His Hidden Worth. Professor Lamar was a quiet, 
modest, and unassuming man; -but a man of splendid 
judgment and notable ability. His true merit did not 
appear till one became well acquainted with him. Some 
of the leading men of our Presbyterian church, such as 
Dr. Henry Kendall, Dr. Henry Addison Nelson, William 
Earl Dodge, and William Thaw, came to know him, and 
they esteemed him according to his true worth. On 
one occasion when he was attending a meeting of the 
General Assembly, he was called to the platform to speak 
of conditions as he knew them in Tennessee. Some one 
inquired, ''Who is Lamar ?" Dr. Kendall answered, "This 
is Professor Thomas Lamar, of Maryville College, one 
of the ablest and best men in the Presbyterian church." 
He was a man of far-seeing vision and had a fine dis- 
cernment of character. He was a man of kindest heart 
and deepest sympathy. He suffered most acutely in the 
sufferings of others. He was a true friend. 

His Friends. Professor Lamar was so transparently 
honest and unselfish, and so devoted to a task of Chris- 
tian education that promised great results to the church 



i6 A N0BI.E Trio 

and the country, that he won the confidence and esteem 
of some strong men who became strong friends of his. 
William Thaw, of Pittsburgh, was the chief friend in 
the little band who came to his help in resuscitating and 
financing Maryville College for its great mission. Due 
to his liberality, the present campus was secured and the 
first twenty years of the post-bellum service of the Col- 
lege was made possible. And before his death, he joined 
with AVilliam E. Dodge, Preserved Smith, and Sylvester 
Willard in establishing the first one hundred thousand 
dollar endowment fund. And his family have continued 
to help the institution. The spacious Thaw Hall, just 
erected, is a worthy memorial of their decisive help given 
the College. 

The Home-Going. Professor Lamar was never a 
man of vigorous body. For years he was troubled with 
bronchitis, but because of a strong will and a noble pur- 
pose he bore up under the burden of his arduous duties. 
But after IMay, 1886, he went into a decline. In 1887 ^^e 
month of March was unusually dreary and damp, and this 
went against him. I visited him some few days before 
his death and noted with pain his changed appearance 
and extreme weakness. He expressed the most earnest 
desire to live longer, that he might carry out some cher- 
ished plans for the College. But his work was done. On 
Sabbath morning, March 20, 1887, the physician told him 
that he was dying; and at 10:40 that morning his spirit 
took its flight to God and his tired body found rest. 
Only sixty years of age, a life according to our poor 
judgment entirely too short. But oh. how useful that 
life! how far-reaching for good! 




President P. Mason B7\rtlett 



A NoBi<K Trio 17 



II. PRESIDENT P. MASON BARTLETT, 
D.D., LL.D. 



Gratitude is the peg on which hangs this brief bio- 
graphical sketch of Dr. Bartlett, the third president of 
Maryville College. 

First Acquaintance. I first met Dr. Bartlett in Mary- 
ville, Tennessee, in January, 1866. He was then in charge 
of the New Providence church there for six months, 
beginning with January first of that year. He received my 
brother and myself into the church by letter from the 
Forest Hill church, with which organization we had united 
in November, 1865, at a time when New Providence 
church did not have regular preaching. 

The Class in Latin. During these six months, with 
a view to the re-opening of Maryville College in the 
autumn of 1866, Professor Lamar induced Dr. Bartlett 
to organize a class in Latin, which he taught in his room 
in the James Toole residence in Northwest Maryville, at 
that time occupied by Rev. Samuel Sawyer and family. 
The class consisted of Edward W. Tedford, Thomas P. 
Cowan, James Blackburn, and myself. 

The Search for a Latin Grammar. At that time it 
was very hard to get books in Maryville. I remember 
that Dr. Bartlett went with me to several people in 



i8 A NoBM Trio 

search of a Latin grammar, and that at last we found 
one, an old Andrews' grammar, in the hands of Charles 
T. Gates, Sr., which he gladly gave us. Mr. Gates was 
my Hfe-long friend. He taught a school just before the 
outbreak of the Givil war in Porter's Academy, which 
stood directly across the street east of the present court 
house in Maryville. As a small boy I was one of his 
pupils. Dr. Bartlett won my heart that day when he 
said, ''Galvin must have a grammar,'' and helped me find 
one; and my regard for him was increased later by his 
graciousness in the class-room. I was young and had no 
habits of study, and at first the Latin was exceedingly 
difficult for me. The start I then gained enabled me to 
keep well up with my class when Professor Lamar opened 
the Gollege in the autumn of that year. 

This is a Tribute of Gratitude. Dr. Bartlett's kind- 
ness and large-hearted sympathy and patience left a feel- 
ing of gratitude in my heart, and for years I have had 
the purpose to prepare a little sketch of his most useful 
life, and an appreciation of his service to humanity. 

The Limits of a Life. Peter Mason Bartlett was 
born in Salisbury, Connecticut, on February 6, 1820; and 
he died in Maryville, Tennessee, on October 22, 1901, 
aged eighty-one years. 

The Bartlett Family. He belonged to a good old 
English family. His American progenitor was Robert 
Bartlett, who came over from England in the ship Ann, 
in July, 1623, and settled in Rymouth, Massachusetts. 
He was the grandfather of Dr. Bartlett, five generations 



A NoBr.K Trio 19 

removed. The family name can be traced back eight 
centuries to Adam Bartlett, who went over to England 
from France with William the Conqueror, and was in the 
battle of Hastings in 1066. In Dr. Bartlett's family there 
is a beautiful picture of the family coat of arms, with the 
motto, "Preserve us, O Lord,'' in Latin. 

Dr. Bartlett's Parents. His father was Isaiah Bart- 
lett, born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1793; 
he died on July 11, 1867, when seventy-four years old. 
He had a godly mother, Miriam Mason Bartlett, who died 
in 1870. His parents, good, worthy Congregational peo- 
ple, moved to Ohio when he was a young boy. He had 
three brothers; among these were Professor Alexander 
Bartlett, who was a co-worker in Maryville College ; and 
two sisters. All are now dead but one brother in Ohio. 

His Early Conversion. The spot at his old home in 
Connecticut where he fell upon his knees at the age of 
ten years and became a Christian was always to him a 
sacred place and a very precious memory. 

His Education and Scholarship. Dr. Bartlett at- 
tended school at the academy in Farmington, Ohio, where 
he taught some classes; and he was also for a year or 
two in Oberlin College ; but graduated at Williams Col- 
lege, Massachusetts, under Mark Hopkins, in August, 
1850. He took such high rank as a student in college 
that the faculty made for him an honor before unknown 
in Williams College, namely, *'the Metaphysical Oration." 
The subject of his oration was "Personal Identity"; and 
he also gave the Latin Salutatory. He graduated in 



2Q A NoBue Trio 

theology, from Union Seminary, New York, in 1853; 
and was there a fellow student with Professor Lamar. 
During his course in the seminary, he taught Latin in 
some voune ladies' finishing schools. 

His Career as a Pastor. His first pastoral work 
was in Circleville, Ohio. He also had pastorates in Flush- 
ing and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and Lansingburg, 
New York, everywhere laboring with zeal and success. 
Just before coming to East Tennessee, he had calls to 
large pastorates; but he was advised by his warm per- 
sonal friend, Hon. William E. Dodge, to take up the 
work of helping to resuscitate Maryville College. For 
two years during the Civil war he had been chaplain 
of the "New York Mounted Volunteers,'' a regiment of 
which a son of Mr. Dodge was the colonel. 

Elected President of Maryville College. Dr. Bart- 
lett was elected president of Maryville College in the fall 
of 1868, but did not commence his work till March, 1869. 
He continued to serve as president for eighteen years. 

His Valuable Services as President. He sincerely 
loved the College and made many sacrifices for it. His 
influence in the North had its eflfect. Carson W. Adams, 
who left money to the College, was a dear, life-long friend. 
Dr. Bartlett had much to do with inducing Mr. Baldwin to 
give the College twenty-five thousand dollars. He visited 
Mr. Baldwin on his sick and dying bed. He was in 
a way connected with the Fayerweather gift, Mr. Fayer- 
weather becoming interested in the College through Dr. 
Hitchcock, a former teacher of Dr. Bartlett and Professor 



A N0BI.E: Trio 21 

Lamar in Union Seminary. The money contributed by 
Mrs. Nettie F. McCormick to Kin Takahashi for Bart- 
lett Hall was, in part, an expression of her regard for 
Dr. Bartlett. 

His Strength in Metaphysics. His special depart- 
ment as a teacher in the College was in metaphysics, but 
as occasion demanded he taught in any department, being 
a man of fine scholarly attainments. Every now and then 
he organized the students into a class of vocal music, 
and many got their first ideas of the science of music 
from him. He was a great admirer of his renowned old 
teacher, Mark Hopkins, and made frequent reference to 
him, and especially to his controversy with Dr. McCosh 
over some metaphysical subject, and he gleefully said that 
Dr. Hopkins ^'floored'' Dr. McCosh. 

His Courage and Sympathy. Dr. Bartlett was fond 
of debate and frequently wrote controversial articles, and 
these articles were always able. He was a man of decision 
and strong convictions, and he had the courage of his con- 
victions. He was an impulsive man. He could be very 
severe in denunciation and at the same time tender and 
sympathetic. An offending student who had aroused 
his ire to overflowing, and upon whom extreme penalty 
seemed ready to fall, by a word of humble confession and 
regret could not only avert the penalty, but call forth the 
President's immediate forgiveness and compassion. He 
was large-hearted and generous. 

A Great Preacher. He was a magnificent preacher. 
He preached best from manuscript, and he handled his 



22 A NoBW Trio 

manuscript with grace and ease, without its interfering 
with the rhetorical effect of his sermon. He had a mel- 
low, sympathetic voice and spoke with deliberation, and 
his enunciation was perfect. His every word could be 
distinctly heard. He was a man of fine presence, and 
was fully six feet high, with well-proportioned body and 
full, round chest. Both his face and his voice expressed 
his emotion when preaching. His baccalaureate sermons 
were great, and the auditorium was always crowded when 
he preached them. 

His Marriage. On the twenty-fifth of April, 1872, 
he was married to Miss Florence Alden at Cave Spring, 
Georgia. Mrs. Bartlett's father, Augustus Alden, was a 
direct descendant of John Alden, who came over in the 
Mayflower in 1620. Mr. Alden was a graduate of Yale 
in the class of 1817; he came South as a young classical 
teacher, and married Mrs. Bartlett's mother, who had 
•been one of his pupils. The mother's father was Hon. 
Wilson Lumpkin, one of Georgia's honored governors, 
and for years a member of the United States Congress. 

Mrs. Bartlett. President Bartlett's widow yet lives 
and makes her home in Maryville. She is a kind-hearted 
little woman of culture and refinement. She came to 
Maryville a young bride and entered into full sympathy 
with her husband in his work. She is a woman of 
unusually fine musical talent, and she ever used her gifts 
without stint for the benefit of the College. She demon- 
strated the fact that music is a refining influence and a 
very important part of education. She is trying still to 
help wherever needed. 



A N0B1.E; Trio 23 

Dr. Bartlett's Children. Two children were born to 
Dr. and Mrs. Bartlett: Mason Alden, a kind and dutiful 
son, who now lives with his mother and is engaged in 
work in Maryville ; and Rev. Dr. William Thaw Bartlett, 
a worthy successor of his father as an able preacher of the 
gospel, a growing man, now giving all his time to evan- 
geHstic work. Dr. Bartlett had one daughter, Mary EHza, 
by a former marriage, a noble young woman with many 
attractive gifts, who graduated with honor from the Col- 
lege in the class of 1876, and died many years ago. 

Editor Rule's Tribute. On the celebrating of Dr. 
Bartlett's eighty-first birthday, Editor William Rule, of 
the Knoxville Journal and Tribune, wrote: '^Enough of 
his life has been spent in this section to cause him to enjoy 
the confidence and esteem of a host of friends who appre- 
ciate his solid worth and remember his good works that 
inspire affection. Long may he be spared, and may the 
evening of his life be a cloudless one.'' 

Falling Asleep. Dr. Bartlett died on a beautiful 
October afternoon. He lay in his bed greeting old friends 
and pupils with the same kind and genial interest as when 
in health, giving a good-by message for each with the 
assurance that all was well. He died in the harness, 
having preached two Sabbaths before at the Washing- 
ton church in Knox county. Even on his sick-bed he 
was planning some meetings with Evangelist James H. 
McConnell. His funeral was largely attended. College 
and business houses closed in his honor. The little chil- 
dren he loved so well brought flowers and laid them upon 



24 A NoBi^ Trio 

his casket, and many beautiful floral offerings came from 
a distance. 

A Rich Life. Dr. Bartlett lived for others. He 
helped to mold many beneficent characters. Multitudes 
whose lives he touched and blessed can say : 

'*The mother may forget her child 

That smiles sae sweetly on her knee; 
But I'll remember thee, Glencairn, 
And all that thou has' done for me." 




U4'^^ 




Processor Ai^exander Bartlett 



A NoBivE Trio 25 



III. PROFESSOR ALEXANDER BARTLETT 



His First Sabbath in Tennessee. Professor Bartlett 
and his family arrived in Maryville, Tennessee, on the 
tenth of October, 1867. On the first Sabbath that he 
spent in Tennessee, Professor Lamar asked him to preach 
for him at Forest Hill ; and early on that morning he sent 
me with a horse to the old McKenzie hotel, where for the 
time Professor Bartlett was lodging, to take him out by 
my mother's home to the church. I saw him that morning 
for the first time, and, as a boy sixteen years old, I then 
received the impression, never afterward changed, that 
Professor Bartlett was a man of kindly and aflfable dis- 
position. 

The Years of His Pilgrimage. He was born in 
Connecticut, on February 25, 1826; he died in Maryville, 
Tennessee, on November 19, 1883, aged fifty-seven years. 
He was nearly six years younger than his brother. Presi- 
dent Bartlett. 

His Parentage. He was the son of Isaiah and 
Miriam Mason Bartlett. His father was a descendant, 
five generations removed, from Robert Bartlett, who came 
over from England in the ship Ann in July, 1623, and 
settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. When Alexander 
Bartlett was but a child his parents moved to Ohio. 



26 A Noble Trio 

Education. Professor Bartlett attended the common 
school and academy in his home town. He entered Ober- 
lin College in 1850, and there completed his academic 
education and graduated from College and Theological 
Seminary, getting his A.B. degree in 1855 and his A.M. 
in 1856, and graduating from the Theological Seminary in 

1859. 

Work in Ohio. While at Oberlin he taught for some 
years in the preparatory department of the College. He 
afterward taught in Mansfield and Putnam. Though he 
had dedicated his life to the special work of teaching, he 
frequently preached. He had the pastoral charge of 
churches at Wellington, Austinburg, and Conneaut. He 
was a chaplain for a few months during the Civil war. 

His Family. In September, 1853, he was married in 
Oberlin to Miss Laura Salome Merrill. To this union 
were born six children: Edith Miriam, who became the 
wife of Rev. Dr. Edgar A. Elmore and died many years 
ago; Nellie Eugenia, the wife of Rev. Arthur B. Cort; 
Cora Cecilia, for many years a missionary to Teheran, 
Persia, now retired; Addison Merrill, who lives with a 
sister ; Rev. Dr. Robert Alexander, a pastor for several 
years, now an evangelist ; and the youngest, Clara Lyon, 
the wife of Dr. Swabey; all living but Mrs. Elmore. 
Previous to Mrs. Elmore's marriage it was my privilege to 
teach her Greek for two years ; she was a bright student 
and a gentle and modest young woman, with true nobility 
of character. 

His Wife. His wife was a most estimable Christian 
lady. She was a queenly woman, a modern Dorcas, '*full 



A N0BI.E; Trio 2fj 

of good works and almsdeeds which she did/' She minis- 
tered to the sick and destitute. I have known her to spend 
a whole night rolHng a sick baby in its Httle carriage out 
in the open air in order to give the mother, exhausted by 
anxious watching, a chance to rest. She did much for the 
fallen, lifting them up to a better life. She made her home 
an ideal one in its order and neatness. While her training 
was thorough and her discipline firm, she was a cheerful 
mother, making companions of her children and winning 
their profound love and respect. She was an inspiration 
to her husband and his strong helper in every good work. 
She lived several years after the death of Professor 
Bartlett. Her last years were spent in making a home for 
her son Robert in his first pastorate, where her rich expe- 
rience was fully utilized for Sabbath school and church. 

His Home Life. He lived a few months in the Dr. 
Pride brick house on West -Main street in Maryville till 
his residence on the college campus southeast of Anderson 
Hall was completed. A public-school building now stands 
on the site of the Dr. Pride residence. His was a happy 
home. After teaching all day in the College he found 
delightful recreation at home. When returning from the 
College in the afternoon, he quickly attired himself in his 
rough workaday garments, and was ready to address him- 
self to his daily chores. Punctuality being one of the rules 
of his life, there was an allotted time for every duty and a 
duty for every portion of time. He always found time to 
give to his children. His garden, in which he took just 
pride, his yard and its flowers, his cow and chickens, all 
claimed his regular attention. 



28 A N0BI.E; Trio 

Professor in Maryville College. He served in 
Maryville College for sixteen years. Coming to the Col- 
lege in October, 1867, the year after its re-opening by 
Professor Lamar, he found much to do. For some time 
he and Professor Lamar were the only teachers. Though 
Professor of Latin, he readily taught in any department, 
for he was an all-around scholar. His government in the 
schoolroom was calm and well regulated. He was a model 
of neatness in dress before his classes, was always on time 
in meeting his pupils, and showed a kindly interest in each 
one, taking pains to give special encouragement to the 
plodder. A gentleman everywhere, he always dealt with 
his pupils in a gentlemanly manner. 

"The Rhetorical Class." On Friday afternoons he 
met the rhetorical class and listened to their declamations 
and essays. We were called to take part according to the 
alphabet. Allen, Alexander, Bicknell, Brown, Crawford, 
and Carson were summoned in order, and after I had 
passed the dread ordeal a real burden was rolled away and 
I enjoyed solid pleasure for the rest of the time. Com- 
ment was made on the declamations at once, but the essays 
were put into his hands, and the following week they were 
returned to their writers with his corrections and sugges- 
tions. His criticisms were always thoughtful and kind. 

His Personality. These rhetorical exercises were no 
Httle part of the education he gave to his pupils. But 
perhaps his strong Christian personality, brought in daily 
contact with his pupils, did more in shaping their character 
than all else besides; but of this he himself was entirely 
unconscious. "Moses wist not that the skin of his face 
shone." 



A NoBLB Trio 29 

A Man of God. He was a guileless man, a man of 
deep piety and loving sympathy. He was a man who 
looked on life seriously, on life as a trust from God, not 
to be wasted in foolishness and frivolity. His integrity 
was most transparent. The great question with him was, 
what is right, and he honestly tried to do at all hazards 
what was right. He was remarkable for the simplicity, 
the childlike sincerity, and the hearty earnestness of his 
prayers. 

A Preacher of the Gospel. He was not a great 
orator or magnetic speaker ; but his sermons were always 
thoughtful and showed that he had a deep experimental 
knowledge of the Scriptures and that he was in com- 
munion with God ; all this, coupled with manifest sincerity 
and earnestness, made him an impressive and helpful 
preacher. For some years he was pastor X)f the New 
Providence church in Maryville, and his Wednesday 
evening prayer meetings did much to start and develop the 
public praying of the young men who attended. At the 
time of his death he was the preacher in charge of the 
Clover Hill and Mount Tabor churches. In fact, during 
nearly all of his sixteen years in Maryville he preached 
somewhere on the Sabbath. 

His Death. The end of his earthly life came most 
suddenly on Monday morning, November 19, 1883. O^^ 
the previous Saturday and Sunday he had assisted Rev. 
John T. Reagan in a sacramental meeting at Eusebia 
church in Blount county. On Sabbath morning he had 
preached with unusual vigor on Matthew 28:18 — *'A11 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." He came 
home Sabbath afternoon and spent a pleasant night with 



30 A NoBi^ Trio 

his family; he arose on Monday in usual health and 
attended to his chores at the barn ; but came in complain- 
ing of a severe pain, and lay down on a lounge ; in much 
pain he partially raised himself and beckoned to his wife 
to come to him, but he could not speak, and almost in- 
stantly expired. It is needless to say that his death made 
a profound impression on all the students and the people 
of the community. 

The Funeral. His funeral was held in the college 
chapel on Wednesday afternoon, November 21st, and was 
conducted by Rev. Donald McDonald, at that time pastor 
of New Providence church. Solemn and touching re- 
marks were made by Revs. Claudius B. Lord, Gideon S. 
W. Crawford, James A. Ruble, and President Bartlett; 
and then his body was buried in the college cemetery in 
the rear of his residence. 

So ended the earthly career of good Professor Bartlett. 
Balaam's prayer is an excellent one — 'Xet me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his'* ! 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark; 
And may there be no sadness of farewell 

When I embark. 

For when from out our bourne of time and place, 

The flood shall bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face, 

When I have crossed the bar. 



A NoBi^E Trio 31 



IV. THE NOBLE TRIO— PROFESSOR LAMAR, 

PRESIDENT BARTLETT AND 

PROFESSOR BARTLETT 



Great in Manhood and Character. Rev. Dr. Charles 
E. Tedford, of the class of 1871, writing me says : "I wish 
I could write you something approximately expressing my 
estimation of the work and worth of the noble trio of men 
who gave Maryville College a new birth of life and use- 
fulness after the sad desolation of the Civil war. They 
were men of God, great in manhood and in Christian char- 
acter. They were complementary to each other and 
formed a balance of intellectual strength, sound practical 
judgment, and spiritual personality, whose sacred mem- 
ories have become a rich heritage of the institution they 
loved so truly and served so well. Lamar and the two 
Bartletts were great and good men." 

And Great Builders of Maryville. These three good 
men co-operated with each other, working most strenu- 
ously and praying most earnestly for the upbuilding of 
Maryville College. What a precious heritage the College 
has in the morning chapel prayers of these men! How 
often was the petition repeated — "O God, raise up friends 
for Maryville College.'' Dr. Anderson, Dr. Robinson, the 
second president of the College, and Dr. Boardman, the 
fourth president, were also men of prayer; and Dr, 



3J A N0BI.E Trio 

Wilson is of like spirit ; and so were and are many of the 
professors both dead and living. We are told in the 
Revelation (5:8) that the prayers of Gk)d's people are 
treasured up in heaven in "golden bowls." No ordinary 
vessels would do ; they must be golden. God regards these 
prayers as precious, and in answer he is blessing, and, may 
we not believe, he will continue to bless, our dear old alma 
mater ! 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



028 347 357 



